Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Pot, Kettle, Black

So Ken called Kate Hoey a "semi-detached member of Labour". Hmmm. That was him a few years ago. At that point he seemed to make a virtue out of it. Rattled is the word which comes to mind.

Hoey's action really presents Labour with a dilemma. With Gordon Brown having made a virtue of GOATS (Government Of All The Talents) they can hardly complain when Boris seeks to be inclusive too. But Labour MPs will be hopping mad and seeking retribution. There will be demands for the whip to be withdrawn on the pretext of her semi-endorsement of a non Labour candidate. You can bet your bottom dollar that they won't do it until after Thursday, though.

Ken was a fully detached independent of course. Hoey has her moments good and bad but calling her semi-detached does seem reasonable enough. If you provided a link or two we could see what she and he actually said in this instance and that would be appreciated. You being newly promoted and all. Please pretty please.

today Polly Toynbee was at pains (in a full on Pro Ken piece ), to point out he was the enemy of Gordon Brown.

The main thing that surprises me about Toynbee Poly is that no-one ever calls her on her relentless bulls**t. First Blair was the messiah, then he was evil, and Brown was. Now Brown is the devil and Leavingsoon is. Surely at some point someone at the Grauniad must have thought to themselves "hang on, why do we pay this ridiculous woman £140,000 to write b*ll***s? And how come she spends most of her columns whinging about how people get paid too much?"

(btw I loved her line "[the ES] is no newspaper, it's a Tory campaign sheet." Yes, love. Because the Grauniad has always been studiously impartial, hasn't it? You in particular are always the first in the queue to applaud a good Conservative initiative.)

"If Kate Hoey became Labour leader, it would present a problem for Cameron. I wouldn't assist her path too much."

Gosh sometimes people write dog-do when excited don't they?

Kate Hoey is BAD NEWS she is a self-serving, pro-hunting imperialist. Her mercifully short tenure as Sports Minister presided over the Wembley Stadium debacle and a failed olympics bid. Her natural home would be in the DUP or even UKIP.

The PLP leadership (and many grassroots labour supporters) would love her to leave the party. She causes damage, division and grief wherever she sets foot. Leave her to stew where she is and enjoy the fallout from a safe distance.

"Her mercifully short tenure as Sports Minister presided over the Wembley Stadium debacle and a failed olympics bid."

A failed Olympics bid? Make Prime Minister immediately. A successful bid, on the basis of fraudulent figures (remember that fracas about VAT?) is likely to be a disaster for London. Change that to is a disaster for a London.

Incidentally Anonymous J, Kate Hoey is an extremely popular MP, possibly because she so often talks sense.

You're all looking forward to a Tory administration in London, then, with no one from the other parties hanging about, and especially no card-carrying members of the Labour Party?

You don't learn.

Perhaps you will if Cameron ever repeats this on a national scale, with Andrew Adonis as Education Secretary, Tony Blair attending Cabinet, and all Blair's old flames (Byers, Milburn, Reid, Mandelson, Campbell) burning away in "advisory" positions.